Hungarian PM arrives in Tbilisi on official visit

Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister, arrived in Georgia on Tuesday on an official visit alongside his wife and representatives of his Government, the Georgian Government Administration said. 

Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili, the country’s Ambassador to Hungary Tamar Liluashvili and Anna Sikó, the Hungarian Ambassador to Georgia, welcomed the official and his delegation at Tbilisi airport. 

While in Tbilisi, Orbán will hold a face-to-face meeting with his Georgian counterpart Irakli Garibashvili, before a meeting of the intergovernmental commission and signing of a memorandum, the Government press office added. 

A joint press briefing of Garibashvili and Orbán has also been scheduled following their meeting. 

The visit comes ahead of the European Commission report either later this month or early November on Georgia’s implementation of the European Union conditions for obtaining the bloc’s candidacy in December. 

In his previous comments, Orbán slammed the European Council’s decision last year on granting Tbilisi a European perspective instead of the full candidate status as “unfair”, and called for a “merit-based” outcome later this year, while describing himself as the “most devoted supporter” of Georgia’s European integration.